"Of course, Miss, it's natural that you and me should side with the Captin; but after all, it's human natur' to hit back again, ain't it?"
"Yes, I suppose it is. But what happened after that?"
"Oh! the Captin cried out, 'Martin, come and take away this drunken brute, or he'll murder me.'"
"Of course, the Captain was bound to believe he was drunk?"
"Well, he was bound to say so, Miss," Micah answered, with a twinkle in his eyes. "It 'ud never do to own he was beaten by a man as was sober in a stand up fight—and he a sodger."
"Of course not, though you must admit, Micah, that the Captain was at a disadvantage if the other was sober."
"That's what I've said to myself, Miss, fact is, Sterne was much too sober. He was just as cool as a cucumber, and then he's a younger man than the Captin."
"But the Captain got the best of it in the end," she said, with a tone of triumph in her voice.
"That he did, Miss. He got his revenge sharp, sudden an' complete."
"The right nearly always wins in the end, Micah. But mind you don't repeat a word of our conversation this afternoon."